I want you to turn in your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Peter, the fifth chapter of 1 Peter. Now the writer of these words
is the apostle Peter, Simon Peter, and he was an apostle of Jesus
Christ. He was one of the original twelve.
Not only that, but he was one of the inner circle. Our Lord, when he went to the
Mount of Transfiguration, took three disciples with him, Peter,
James, and John. When he went to the garden to
pray, he took fatherists along the way with him, Peter, James,
and John. This man is an apostle, one of
the original 12 apostles. He was one of the inner circle,
Peter, James, and John. He was the man whom the Lord
chose to bring the first sermon after the Lord arose, the message
which we refer to as the message at Pentecost. Peter was the spokesman
for the apostles. But I want you to notice three
or four things in the introduction of this message, I want you to
notice first his gentleness, the gentleness of the Apostle
Peter. We don't think of gentleness
in the Apostle Peter usually at the same time, because he
wasn't at one time very gentle. Peter at one time was very boastful.
Our Lord said to him, all of you will be offended because
of me this night. He said, I won't. I won't. He said, all of you will forsake
me. Peter said, I won't. These others may, but I won't.
I'll die with you. He wasn't always a gentle person. He was a boastful man, and he
was a brutal man, quite brutal. When our Lord was in the garden,
and the soldiers came to arrest him, who was it that drew the
sword and cut off Malchus, the servant of the high priest, here?
Who drew his sword? who drew his sword and aimed
for the neck of the man but missed his neck and hit his ear. He
wasn't a gentle person, but he is now. There's nothing that
promotes gentleness like a fall. There's nothing that promotes
gentleness like realizing God's kindness and gentleness toward
us. There's no man who is quite as gentle as the person who has
realized that he's been the object of mercy. that he has fallen
and God has been pleased to forgive and show mercy and lift him.
You wonder why God permits men to fall? Why does God permit
his people? I'm not talking about folks out
yonder, you know. I'm not talking about the rebel.
He may keep climbing the ladder and never make a mistake. I'm
not talking about the Pharisee. He may never stump his toe. I'm
not talking about the religious hypocrite. He may live an outward,
moral, clean life of temperance and gentleness outwardly from
now on. I'm talking about the man that
knows God. Why does God permit people to fail? His people. Look
down the road. Abraham. Look at Noah. Look at David. Look at Peter.
Come on down the line. Why does he permit them? to fail
and to stumble and to fall. I'll tell you, he does that to
make them gentle and kind and compassionate and tender and
make them understand the meaning of mercy so that they might be
merciful. There's no one quite as gentle
and quite as kind and merciful to the weak as a man who knows
he's weak. There's no one so compassionate and sympathetic
and pitiful For those who need help, like the man who knows
he needs help, who knows he survives by the grace of God. So Peter
starts here and he says, the elders which are among you, I
exhort. He doesn't say I command, I demand,
I require, I exhort. I exhort. That's a gentle word. That's a word Peter wouldn't
have used. A few years back, Jay, he wouldn't have said, I
exhort. He said, you fellas get on the ball or else. That's the
way he would have talked. You fellas straighten up or else.
Straighten up like I'm straightened up, you know. But he says, I
exhort you. I exhort you. Notice his humility. Who am also
an elder. Peter was a whole lot more than
an elder. He was a whole lot more than an elder. He was an
apostle. I don't think some of us realize just what an apostle
is. An apostle is a person who had
seen the Lord. An apostle was a person who was
an eyewitness of his glory. An apostle was a person who had
received his gospel directly from the Lord. An apostle was
a special person. There were few apostles. There
aren't any now. There aren't going to be any
more. There were only twelve. Twelve apostles. And yet Peter
does not mention his high office. When he writes to these men,
these preachers and elders in the church, he says, the elders
which are among you, I exhort, I encourage, who am also an elder. He was more than an elder, he
was an apostle, but he doesn't mention his high office, but
with true humility, true sincere humility, he puts himself on
the level with these men. He said, I too am an apostle. I too am an elder just like you. I'm an elder. I'm an apostle.
That's true. He doesn't mention that he says
I'm an elder. I also am an elder. If God has given a man gifts,
if God has given a man talent, if God has given a man authority
and leadership, what does that man have that he's not received?
God gave it to him. What do you have the apostle
said that you did not receive? Who gave it to you? Then why
do you boast as if you didn't? I notice as I read this verse,
Peter's gentleness with these men, his humility. I'm one of
you. I'm one of you. It's impossible
to preach the grace of God and preach down to anyone. Blessed
is the man or woman who is a witness of Christ and has learned to
identify with those to whom they witness or identify with those
whom they teach. Peter's humility. Now notice
another thing. Skip down to verse 2. I'm coming
back to the rest of verse 1, but I want you to go down to
verse 2. We've seen his gentleness and his humility. Now notice
his charge to these elders. What's he writing about? He said,
the elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder,
feed the flock of God. Feed the flock of God. What does
God's flock eat? Well, cows live on hay, and lions
and tigers live on meat. The sheep of Christ eat on his
Word. They cannot survive without the
Word of God. Not only their spiritual well-being,
but their spiritual being depends on the Word of God. My friends,
we cannot make too much of the Word. By the Word of God, men
are convicted of sin. The Apostle Paul said, I would
not have known sin had not the law said, thou shalt not covet. You'll never convince a man of
sin. You'll never convince a man of sin anyway. The Holy Spirit
convicts men of sin. The Holy Spirit is the agent,
but the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to convince men of
sin. Men are convinced of sin by the
Word of God, by this Word right here. By the Word of God, men
see the righteousness of Christ. By the Word of God, faith cometh.
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. If
I knew someone here this morning who did not know Christ, who
was interested in knowing Christ, there are people here this morning
who do not know Christ. But I'm talking about someone
who's interested in knowing Christ. I'm not talking about a person
who's interested in missing hell. Everybody's interested in that.
That's the reason that Religious hucksters and merchandisers of
souls have big crowds today. They're looking for a shortcut
to heaven. But I'm talking about someone who's interested in knowing
Christ, in being redeemed from the curse of the law and from
the condemnation of sin, and being brought to a living, vital
union with Christ Jesus. If I knew someone who did not
know Christ but who wanted to know Him, you know what I would
advise you to do? Study the Word of God. I'd bury
myself in this book. I wouldn't go to a professional
soul winner. I wouldn't go to a high-toned,
high-pressure preacher. I wouldn't go to some person
and compare notes and seek an experience. I'd bury myself in
the Word of God. I'd be like the man who said
to Spurgeon one day, salvation is found somewhere in the pages
of this book. I'm going to get in this book
until I find it. Salvation is found somewhere
in the pages of this book. I'm going to get in this book
till I find it. My friends, faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the Word of God. By the Word of God, men are convinced
of sin. By the Word of God, men see the
righteousness of Christ. By the Word of God, faith cometh.
Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on him in
whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they've not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? What does the preacher preach?
The Word of God. And I'll tell you this, it's
by the Word of God that men grow in grace. You're not going to
grow in grace without the Word of God. Some folks wonder, say,
well, I profess Christ and believe on Christ, but my prayer life's
not like it ought to be. And I can't get the victory over
my temper like I ought to. And I can't love people like
I want to love people. And I don't seem to make any
progress in the spiritual life. You're neglecting the word of
God. Now the scripture says, desire the sincere milk of the
word that you may grow thereby. If your child does not eat properly,
your child's not going to grow properly. You say your child
is weak physically, perhaps his diet has something to do with
it. I'm not talking about always, that's not always the case. Sometimes
children are sick. But I'm simply saying if a child
does not eat properly, get the proper food, he's not going to
develop physically. And a child of God, if you have
a weakness of faith and a weakness of joy and a weakness of peace
and a weakness in your prayers and a weakness in the... it's
because you're not making much of his word. Desire the sincere
milk of the word that you may grow thereby. I'm not going to
ask you to raise your hands, but how many of you have read
God's word this way? And studied God's word? There's only one way to grow,
that's the book, Jack. Feed the flock of God. Feed. Peter says to these elders, feed
the flock of God. Christ said to Peter himself,
where did he get this information? Christ said to him, you love
me? Feed my sheep. Feed my lambs! Feed my sheep! Feed them what? Bring in a quartet
and let the quartet entertain them from seven o'clock to midnight?
That's not feeding God's sheep. Have somebody get up and start
testifying and telling about victories he's won and all that
sort of thing and bragging on the flesh and telling a bunch
of lies, that's not feeding the sheep. Feeding the sheep is reading
the Word, teaching the Word, preaching the Word, burying ourselves
in the Word of God. That's how growth comes. Feed
the flock of God. Look at the next line. Which
is among you? Which is among you? Two weeks
ago I was in Danville, about two or three weeks ago, and the
phone call came in for me from Georgia. A friend of mine down
in Georgia, and been a friend for many years, a young man,
about 32 or 33, was discovered to have cancer.
He was going to be operated on the next day, and they wanted
me to pray for him and wanted me to return the call and talk
to him. And when I got the call and was talking to the party,
I made a few statements and looked over at Don Fortner, and his
whole expression had changed. You see, he had cancer. He had
been treated with chemotherapy and Cobalt. And when I was talking
to this man on the phone who had the cancer, Don identified. He lived the man's experience.
Charlie, he moved right into that conversation by his expression
and his feeling. Let me tell you something. God
never ordained angels to preach the gospel. He ordained men.
And a true man welcomes a fellow man. And this is what Peter is
saying to these elders. You feed the flock of God which
is among you. You're one of them. You're dug
out of the same pit. you're hewn out of the same rock,
you're dug out of the same dunghill, you're found in the same miry
clay, you are among them. You're not over them, you're
not better than they are, you're not higher than they are, you're
one of them. And I'll tell you there's no one who can preach
the gospel of grace like a sinner. There's no one who can preach
the gospel of mercy like a guilty man. There's no one who can identify
with a person in the same condition like one who's been there and
knows what it's like. Let us decrease that he may increase. Feed the flock of God which is
among you. We're learning together. We're
growing together. None of us have any corner on
the truth. We have not arrived. Paul said that. I'm not perfect.
I haven't arrived, he said, but forgetting those things which
are behind. I reach forth. I reach forward. to lay hold
on that for which I've been laid hold of by Christ Jesus." And then his advice, listen to
this, he says, you elders, I'm one of you, I'm one of you, feed
the flock of God, feed them the Word of God, make much of the
Word of God, those who are among you, those who are one, you want
me to tell you that one of the secrets of Walter Groover's success
as a missionary Tim James's success as a missionary to the Indian.
Bill Clark's success as a missionary to the French-speaking people
and the Africans. They have become one of these people. They've
become one of them. Walter Groover's a Mexican. Tim
James is an Indian. That's what he is. He identifies.
He identifies. He's one of them. And that's
the only way any man's ever going to be able to preach the good
news of the glory of God is to come down among the people and
to become one of them. Identify what he is. He may as
well face it. He may as well admit it. He may
as well preach that way. And then Peter says to these
elders, you take the oversight. What is oversight? It's leadership.
Leadership. Take the leadership of the church.
Take the leadership. Christ is the head of all things. Scripture says He's the head
of all things in the church, that in all things He might have
the preeminence. Our Lord is sovereign, as Jay
prayed a moment ago. He's king. He reigns over all
things. Everything belongs to Him. But
our Lord delegates and designates authority. Our Lord has delegated
authority in the home. He says Christ is the head of
the man. The man is the head of the woman. You cannot have
a happy marriage where there's no leadership or where the leadership
is in the wrong hands. The leadership has to be in the
hands of the one in whose hands God put it. That's the husband.
He's got to take the oversight. He's got to take the leadership.
Shame on the man who has not taken the leadership not only
in material things but in spiritual things in his home. Shame on
him. Shame on it. I know that most religion today
is feminine. I know most churches today are
run by women. Most preachers are manipulated
by the ladies of their congregation. They fear them. Most religious
denominations are effeminate. You shut the mouths of most women
and most churches would fold up. You close the mouths of most
women and most denominations would fold up. But I'm talking
about where the gospel is preached, where the gospel of the grace
of God is preached, where the gospel of the glory of God is
declared, it's a man's religion. It's a man's message. It was
brought by men, it was sent by men, and the women, the scripture
declares this, if they would learn anything, let them ask
their husbands at home, I suffer not a woman to teach nor to use
of authority in any way over a man. Now a man who knows that
message and does not take the spiritual leadership of his home,
shame on him! God will shame him someday. If a woman has to do it, well,
bless her heart. If she has to get the children
ready and bring them to church by herself, God bless her. But
God will condemn that man who did not take that leadership.
God will deal with him. God will judge him. God will
judge him, and he deserves the judgment. Thank God that he's
pleased to show pity to some. It may not be too late for some
of you. It may be for the rest of you, but not for some of you.
You'd better get started. Take the leadership. Take the
leadership. Peter says to these elders, take
the leadership, not by constraint, not by constraint, willingly.
Take the leadership of your home. Take the leadership of your family.
Parents, take the leadership of your children. I know there are a lot of parents
who say, well, you know, my children are hard to handle. Well, I'd
start trying to handle them if I was you. Now, God's given you
a responsibility. You say they'll rebel. Then all
you'll be able to do is kiss them goodbye. But don't give
in. Don't give up your leadership. Don't surrender your leadership.
for the glory of God, stand by the grace of God, stand by the
help of God, declare what's right and what's true in a compassionate
manner, in a humble manner, in a sweet and kind gentle manner,
but it's right and stand for it. And this goes for pastors
too. Pastors are to take the leadership
of the church, not by coercion, not by constraint, not with reluctance,
but with a willing spirit for the glory of God. Now read on,
and he says, not for filthy lucre. Oh, I'm telling you how many
men are in the ministry for material gain. It didn't used to be that
way as much because there wasn't much money in religion years
ago. There was a time when pastors and preachers just had it hard
surviving because they were not paid adequately, they were not
taken care of. But today's so-called religious
freedom in America has given birth to more hucksters and merchandisers
of men than we've ever seen before. There are men and women in the
ministry and in religious singing and in religious entertainment
for the money. I know a lot of people are gushing
over this certain woman that travels around to preach speech
for God and that her husband's got a horse. I don't need to
call names, do I? But it costs you $2,000 to have
her, doesn't it, Jay? She'll come here next Sunday,
but it'll cost you $2,000. There's not many folks here that
wouldn't go give their testimony for $2,000, wouldn't you, Jim?
About anywhere you want me to go, I'll lay off from work and
go give my testimony. That's what it costs. And that's
cash on the barrel head. That's money in advance. That's
not a promise. That's $2,000. I ran into a fellow
one time in Birmingham. He was traveling the country.
condemning communism. He was that fella that played,
that didn't play it, but he was, it was his life story. I led
three lives. You remember that television
program? I led three lives. A fellow that was a communist
and something and something. Well, I met that fella. Phil Brick
or something was his name. He was speaking in Birmingham,
warning the United States. This was back 25 years ago, 20
years ago. And I thought, well, now isn't
he wonderful to travel all over the country and warn people about
communism. He's getting $500 a night. That's what he told me. It costs
$500 a night. Let him come warn you about communism. And you leave, but not for filthy
lucre. Not for filthy lucre, but of
a ready mind. And verse 3, this leadership
is just that. It's leadership, it's not lordship.
It's leadership. There's only one Lord. There's
only one Lord. That's the reason the Pope is
an imposter. He's an antichrist. That's what he is. He's an antichrist.
Because he's lording it over God's heritage. Any man in religious
garb that lets a man kneel and kiss his ring is a phony, he's
an imposter. Any man who's a dictator over
God's people, who tries to manipulate the hearts and emotions and lives
of God's people is an imposter, he's an antichrist. There's only
one Lord over the conscience of men, over the hearts of men,
over the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's him who is
her head, Christ the Lord. Paul, Peter says here, you feed
the flock of God, which is among you, of which you are part. And
you take the leadership, not by constraint, not by coercion,
not with reluctance, but willingly. Take what God's laid in your
hands. Take what God's trusted to you. Take what God's committed
to you. And lead, not as a lord or a
dictator or a sovereign, but as an example. Example. The minister of God ought to
be an example in integrity. He ought to be an example in
giving. He ought to lead the church in every phase, because
that church will reflect the attitude of that pulpit. It will
reflect the attitude of that leader. But right in the midst
of all this, now I want you to go back to verse 1. Right in
the midst of all this, in verse 1, Peter says something that,
a phrase that gripped my heart, and blessed me as much as anything
has blessed me in a long time. Right in the middle of this,
he gives what I believe is the testimony of all faith, what
I believe is the cause of all rejoicing, what I believe is
the tide that binds, what I believe is the source of hope, assurance,
and confidence. He says, I am a witness, see
verse 1, I am a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker
of the glory that shall be revealed." Oh, I tell you, Peter, writing
to this church, and he says, the elders among you, I encourage,
I exhort, I'm also an elder. Feed the flock of God. Take the
leadership of the flock of God, not by constraint or coercion,
but willingly. Not as a lord over God's heritage,
but an example to the Because we are witnesses of the sufferings
of Christ and partakers of the glory that shall be revealed.
If there's anything I want, you know, God said, Solomon, what
do you want? Lord, I want wisdom. What do you want? You know what
I want above anything in this world, anything. I'd like to
be a witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker of the
glory that shall be revealed. I sure would. That's what I want
for you. I don't want a big cathedral here. I'd welcome it if God gave
it. I'd like to preach to more people the gospel of Christ. I'm not interested in monuments
and memorials. I'm not interested in how many
we have in Sunday school next Sunday. I'm interested in the
presence of one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. If he's here, it's
okay. If he's not, if we have 10,000, we're in bad shape. But
I want to be a witness, a witness of the sufferings of Christ.
I want to be under God and by his grace a partaker of the glories
that shall be revealed. Now Peter was what I never have
been and never can be. That is, he was an eyewitness
of the sufferings of Christ. He was an eyewitness. Peter who
wrote this says, I am a witness, a witness. of the sufferings
of Christ. He was an eyewitness. You know,
when Lazarus died, not many of us make much of this, but the
Lord made much of it. When Lazarus died, you know,
our Lord was good ways away from there, and he said, they sent
word to him, he whom thou lovest is sick. It took a while for
the message to get there, One of the disciples said, Lazarus
is sick, and the Lord Jesus said he's dead. Lazarus is dead. And so the Lord and his disciples
came to Bethany, where Lazarus was buried, where his two sisters
were. And when he came, one of them
ran out to meet him and just fell down crying and said, Lord,
if you'd have been here, you wouldn't have died. You wouldn't have
died if you'd have been here. And then the other one, he wouldn't
have died if you'd have been here. Why weren't you here? And
you know what Scripture says, our Lord wept. He stood there
and wept. Why was he weeping? He was weeping
over the unbelief. He was weeping over the wrong
sense of values. Christ said, I'm the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth on me, though
he were dead, yet shall he live. And here these people are putting
all emphasis on this mortal life, on this earth. These were his
people. These were those whom he had taught. This was Mary
who sat at his feet and he talked to her of the beauties of the
kingdom, the glories of the kingdom, to live is Christ, to die is
gain. She had heard all that and here,
look how she is reacting. No wonder he wept. These are
the sufferings of Christ. His suffering started before
Calvary. His sufferings were to see the
unbelieved. His suffering were to behold the wrong emphasis,
the bad sense of values, the lack of confidence on the part
of His people. They're not even hearing what
I'm saying. I wonder if He doesn't weep sometime
over our attitude toward these things. Our Lord stood there and listened
to Mary and Martha, and He talked to them of the Kingdom of God,
of the presence of the Father, to how he redeemed his children
and he'd take them home and they'd live eternally with him and here's
one of them gone to glory and they're acting like the world's
come to an end. And he stood there and wept.
And wept. And I feel the same way sometimes.
And I know some of you do, the weep over the spirit and attitude
of folks in the face of this glorious, wonderful coronation
to go to be with Christ. And then Peter was there. He
saw that. He saw his sufferings. And there
in the garden as he prayed, and drops of blood came from his
pores, and he wrestled in prayer with the sins of sinners to be
laid on him. And Peter saw it. He was there. He was an eyewitness. And when
the soldiers came and roughly dragged him out of that garden
and left the disciples, our Lord said, if you want me, you leave
these alone. That's a good sermon, isn't it?
You take me and leave these alone, but you can't have me and them
both." And oh, the law laid hands on him, and justice laid hands
on him, and the wrath of God laid hands on him, and Christ
said, if you take me, you leave these. And they did take him. Peter
was there. And then at the palace of Annas,
when they led our Lord to the soldiers' hall to be beaten and
stripped and mocked and persecuted and ridiculed, Peter was there.
He was sitting there warming his hands by the fire, and he
was watching. And then Peter, somewhere slipping
around between the buildings, he saw our Lord dragging that
cross to Calvary's Mount as he stumbled and fell under the weight
of that cruel cross. And the blood streamed and dripped
upon the pavement. His back was lacerated and the
cross just dragged across that open flesh. And Peter saw it.
He was a witness. And then when they nailed him
to that tree, standing somewhere in that crowd was the Apostle
Peter. He was a witness, an eyewitness of his sufferings. He watched him die. And that's
what he's saying here, I was a witness of the sufferings of
Christ. But my friend, there's another
witness that I am and I share with Peter, and that is a faith
witness to the sufferings of Christ. Turn to John 20. Let
me show you something here. This is mainly what I'm talking
about. I know I can never be an eyewitness
to the sufferings of Christ. I can never be an eyewitness
to the sufferings of Christ, but I am, by the grace of God,
a faith witness, which is, listen to me, Better than being an eyewitness. Better than being an eyewitness.
In John 20, verse 26, when Jesus therefore saw his mother, John
20, verse 26, after eight days again, here it is, his disciples
were within and Thomas was with them, and then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst and said, Peace be
unto you. And then said he to Thomas. You know, Thomas had
said, they said, the Lord's risen. He said, I won't believe it unless
I touch the prints of the nails in his hands and the spare mark
in his side. And our Lord appeared to him. He said, Thomas, reach
hither your finger and behold my hands and reach hither thy
hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless but believing. And Thomas answered and said
unto him, My Lord and my God. And Jesus said to Thomas, Thomas,
because you've seen me, you've believed. Blessed are they which
have not seen, and yet have believed. Blessed, twice blessed, are those
who have not seen. Now then, Peter was an eyewitness
to all the sufferings of Christ. He is bearing our shame and sin
and unbelief, bearing our guilt and filth and iniquities. Peter was an eyewitness. But
my friend, there were a lot of, there were thousands of eyewitnesses
to the Lord's suffering who didn't see the true meaning of it. Now
this is what I'm talking about. Being a witness to the sufferings
of Christ does not constitute salvation, even being an eyewitness. But being a faith witness does.
You see, Peter was both an eyewitness and a faith witness. He knew
who was dying. He knew why he was dying. He
knew what he accomplished by dying. And that's a faith witness. I saw one hanging on a tree in
agony and blood who fixed his languid eyes on me as near his
cross I stood. Sure, never till my latest breath
can I forget that look. It seemed to charge me with his
death, though not a word he spoke. A second look he gave which said,
I freely all forgive. This blood is for thy ransom
paid. I died that you might live. a
faith witness to the sufferings of Christ. Now, Peter said, I'm
a witness to the sufferings of Christ. I saw him suffer and
die. There were thousands of eyewitnesses
who saw him suffer and die. In fact, the devil was there
when he died. All the demons of hell were there.
They were onlookers. And the rebel and the Pharisees
were there. They saw what was happening,
but they did not know who died. Who is this? The carpenter! God
said, this is my beloved son. Who is this? The son of Mary.
John the Baptist says, the Lamb of God. Who is this? A winebibber, a gluttonous man.
The demon says he's the Holy One of Israel. Who is this? Surely this man was the Son of
God. I'm a faith witness. A faith
witness. I know who he is. The Apostle
Paul says, who is he that condemned me? Christ died! Christ died! Not a carpenter. Christ died! Not just a man, the mediator.
Christ died! Christ died. I know why he died. That God might be just and justify
folks like me and you. That's why he died. I had a man
75 years of age who'd been watching our television program And God
brought him to a knowledge of salvation through Christ, and
he sat and looked at me. His son's a Baptist preacher.
He'd never heard his son preach. Twenty-two years his son had
been a pastor and a preacher, and his daddy was too much of
a rebel to go hear him preach. whether he accidentally or by
God's sovereignty turned on our television program one Sunday
and God got a hold of him. He listened to me about a year
and then the Lord saved him and I went up to see him and he said,
I didn't know why Christ came into the world. I knew he came,
I knew he died, I didn't know why. I thought he's just a reformer,
I thought he's just an example. I found out from the Word of
God he's the redeemer. He's the substitute. He's the
one who took my sin and my guilt and gave me righteousness and
forgiveness. He's my substitute. You know why he died? You know
what he accomplished? Well, he didn't fail, I'll tell
you that. He didn't make an effort to save somebody. He saved those
for whom he died. That's absolutely right. You
may have a salvation that takes what Christ did plus what you
did. But the salvation of the Lord is all in what Christ did.
I'm not pleading with you to do anything but believe on Christ.
I'm not pleading you to do anything but receive Christ. God doesn't
demand that you produce a righteousness, but that you receive one. Christ
paid it all, all the debt I owe. He's Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, first and the last. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
all in Christ. I know who He is. Where he died
and what he accomplished, and bless your heart, some of us
know where he is now. And I'll tell you this, he ain't
that little weak, frustrated, failing, defeated Jesus that
you hear preached on television from the average pulpit. He's
Lord. He's Lord. And the fellow that
comes to you and says, what will you do with Jesus? You tell him
he doesn't even know Christ. The question is this, what's
he going to do with you? You're not, he's not in your
hands, you're in his hands. Jesus, you got Jesus on your
hands! I hear people say that's not
what scripture says. That we're on his hands to do
with what he will. He might show you mercy. He just
might, I don't know. He doesn't have to and he doesn't
owe it to you and he's not obligated to you and you don't deserve
it. But he might. I tell you what I'd do, I'd ask
him. I'd be like that old leper. I'd fall at his feet, and I'd
say, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. I'd sure be much
obliged if you would. We got it backwards. We're out
here trying to get people to do something for the Lord, and
the Lord doesn't need it. I tell you, we'd better fall
on our faces on behalf of ourselves and everybody else that he might
be pleased to show mercy to dead sinners like we are. That's right. The church doesn't need you.
I know you've been told it to do. And they've coddled you and
babied you and pampered you and tried to win you. Well here's
one preacher that's not. You're going to hell and that's
what you deserve. That's exactly right. Men die like they live. You've
lived like a reprobate and you're going to die like a reprobate
unless God has mercy on you. You've lived a rebel and you're
going to die a rebel. You've lived for self, you're
going to die in your sins. You haven't given God a thought,
you haven't given God a thank you, you haven't given God one
word of praise, and God's going to send you to hell, and it's
just what you deserve. I'm going to preach tonight about
a man I visited in the hospital yesterday, 68 years old. And
his sister called up here and wanted me to go see him, and
I went to see him. And these people have an idea that here's
a man who lived 68 years for himself against God, hadn't had
ten cents worth of anything for God Almighty, and God ought to
be on his knees begging that man to be saved. Let me tell
you something. Men die like they live. That's
the truth, Cecil. They die like they live. And
I'm on God's side in this thing. I'm on God's side. He may save
you. He may show you mercy, but he
doesn't have to, and you don't deserve him. You don't deserve
it. Peter said, I'm a witness of
the sufferings of Christ. You know, I like what Brother
Jay prayed one time. He said, Lord, bless this man
in proportion to his faith in you and his love for you. You want to be blessed that way? That's right. You bless him in
proportion to the way he trusts you. I want to be a partaker of the
glory that shall be revealed. It's time we call on God. You
can't talk to others of the bitterness of sin if you've never tasted
it. You can't talk of the preciousness of faith if you're a stranger
to it. You can't talk of the sufferings of Christ if you've
never seen them in your heart. You can't describe the love of
God if you've never been a partaker of God's love. My dear old brother
Barnard told me one time he's preaching out in Texas. He'd
been passed out in Borga, Texas for years, about three years,
I think. He's the only preacher in town.
And there was 19 saloons and 19 casinos, one behind each saloon,
and 19 houses of prostitution back behind them dance halls.
And he's the only preacher in town. He said one day he had
seven funerals. He had one a day for about three
years. There was one girl there, a notorious young lady by the
name of Dixie. She was the queen of the dance
halls. He knew her, as he knew about everybody in that little
oil town of 50,000 people, being the only preacher, building a
Baptist church. And one day they had a shooting
down at the Danks Hall and somebody came in and shot at somebody
and missed him and hit Dixie. And they just picked her up and
took her back in the back. This was back in 1920-something. They
took her back in the back and put her on a cot and they said,
somebody sent for the preacher. And so they sent for Brother
Barnard and he came. And he said, the doctor was sitting
there beside her cot and trying to do something for her and somebody
said, let the preacher through. Barnard said he came in and the
doctor looked up at him and got up out of his seat and just shook
his head like that and closed up his bag. Barnard sat down
beside her and took her by the hand. He said her hands just
gripped his so hard and she turned her face to the wall. And Barnard
said, I sat there and I talked to her about Christ and about
salvation. He said, I told her God's mercy
for And God is pleased to save sinners by the death of his Son.
It's terrible to die in sin and be eternally separated from God.
And he said, I made a plea. And he said, she gripped my hand
a little tighter and then she looked around into my face and
tears were streaming, but he said her eyes were crackling.
And he said, she looked at me and said, Preacher, ain't no
use me lying to you. And ain't no use me lying to
God. If I get well, I'm going to go on living just like I always
have lived. And he said with that she died.
And somebody had to help him get his hand out of her hand.
Men die like they live. They die like they live. There
was only one thief on the cross, one man who was saved in his
dying hour, Darwin. You know why that is? This is
the reason. There was one dying thief, and
only one, that no man may despair. God's pleased sometimes to save
a dying thief. But there was only one that no
man may presume. Only one. That's all. You go
through the Bible. One man. One old man came to
know Christ. The rest of them died like they
lived. They died like they chose to.